Freeport’s Kaleb Barrett (19) moves past Lincoln Academy’s Nathan Rideout during Wednesday’s ass C boys lacrosse prelim game in Freeport (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
FREEPORT — Upset-minded No. 10 Lincoln Academy rolled off the bus on Wednesday and kept up with the seventh-seeded Falcons over the first 24 minutes, trailing by only two goals at the halftime break.
But Freeport scored three goals in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the second half, totaling nine in the frame to pull away from the Eagles for a 20-5 victory in a Class C boys high school lacrosse preliminary game at Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field.
The Falcons (8-5) will travel to No. 2 North Yarmouth Academy on Saturday.
“We came out and played a complete game today,” Freeport coach Geoff Arris said. “Our players responded to the situation.”
The Falcons were led by Kaleb Barrett. The senior captain netted nine goals and three assists to pace the offense. Steel Crawford added five goals and an assist.
Freeport wasted no time registering the first goal. Just 28 seconds into the contest, Sam Larochelle found Barrett in front and the attacker ripped his first score by Lincoln Academy goalie freshman Will Farrell for the 1-0 lead.
The Eagles (4-9) answered two minutes later when Nolen Michael beat Freeport keeper Sam Tourigny for the score, but the Falcons darted back ahead with goals by Crawford, Evan Owen and Barrett for a three-goal advantage.
Michael cut the Freeport lead in half with his second goal and the Falcons led 4-2 after one quarter.
After being outshot in the first quarter (6-2), the Eagles began to pressure Tourigny in the offensive end, putting six second-quarter shots on net. Michael and Gardner Skiff each tallied scores to keep pace with Freeport as Larochelle and Barrett each scored in the frame as Freeport took a 6-4 lead into the halftime break.
“That was our best first half,” Lincoln Academy coach Tom Farrell said. “We’re young on defense and they stood tall in the first half.”
Lincoln Academy’s Will Farrell, left, makes a save on Freeport’s Kaleb Barrett’sshot during the second quarter of Wednesday’s Class prelim game in Freeport (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
Freeport held the advantage in first-half shots — 10-8 — while Lincoln Academy took the faceoffs, 8-4.
“We had a tough time when we got off the bus when we went down to York,” Arris said. “The same thing happened today where we started off very, very slow.”
Second half surge
“We told them it’s time to wake up and that we needed to really focus on playing some offense and less defense, and that’s what we did,” Arris said.
That they did.
Barrett opened the scoring at the 10:03 mark, and the Falcons never looked back as the home team continued firing shot after shot at the Eagle keeper. Crawford netted the next two scores, off helpers from Barrett and Leap Ngoal (two assists).
“We just needed our right caliber to start taking over and doing what the needed to do, get technical and start moving the ball around,” Arris said.
Barrett netted the next two, the latter a product of transitional passing that started in front of Lincoln Academy’s net, making its way up the field. Ben Gormely (two goals, one assist) found Barrett on the final pass and the Falcons went ahead, 11-4.
“At the half, coach told us to dig, and at the end of the day, we wanted it more,” Barrett said. “We stepped up and took advantage of the opportunities we saw. We realized their slides were a little late and we got a lot of crease shots and fast breaks. Our transitions were amazing.”
Freeport’s Kohen Bailey runs down the field after intercepting a Lincoln Academy pass during Wednesday’s Class boys lacrosse prelim game at Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field in Freeport (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
Larochelle (two goals, two assists) and Gormely rounded out the third-quarter scoring for the Falcons. Skiff scored the lone goal for the Eagles.
The Falcons put the game into running time three minutes into the final quarter after receiving goals from Gormely and Justin Cogswell.
“The experience of Freeport and their teamwork in the second half exposed us, hats off to them, they played a great game in the second half. They made the adjustments and we didn’t,” Farrell said.
The Falcons outshot the Eagles, 27-10. The Freeport defense only allowed two shots in the second half — none in the final quarter — a large part due to the defensive pressure put on by Devan Hannan, Koehn Bailey and Jacob Gormely. Tourigny finished with five saves.
“We’ve worked really hard with our defense and push ourselves in practice, this is a good crew,” Barrett said.
The Falcon defense kept Michael in check for much of the second half.
“Once we knew he was going to go left and jump and jump a little. As soon as he starts to jump, you strike. Our long poles listened and got it done,” Arris said.
The Falcons lost to NYA, 13-9, earlier in the season, so Arris expects another tough battle.
“If we can play like we did in the second half today, we should do well,” Arris said.
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